The Judas Kiss

Oscar Wilde’s spectacular rise and even more dramatic fall from grace has inspired countless biographies. There have also been numerous stage and film depictions of his life. Most follow the giddy trajectory of his early success while attempting to quote as many of his famous epigrams as possible before turning to his trial and imprisonment for gross indecency.

With The Judas Kiss, playwright David Hare deliberately chooses a microscopic approach. The first act focuses on the afternoon Wilde was forced to withdraw his libel suit against the father of his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The trial exposed Wilde’s hidden life as a man who bought the sexual favors of young working-class men, leaving the authorities no choice but to put out a warrant for his arrest. The second act finds Wilde reunited with Lord Alfred and living in Italy after serving his prison sentence.

Robert “Robbie” Ross (Darius De La Cruz) arrives at a discreet hotel with Wilde’s bags packed. Their plan, if the trial went badly, was for Wilde to flee to Paris and live in exile rather than face prison. It becomes clear that “Bosie,” Lord Alfred (Colin Bates) has problems with this plan.

Both men are anxious to put their cases to Wilde (Rob Nagle) when he arrives. But Oscar is distracted and shows little interest in Ross’ practical solution of flight, nor in Lord Alfred’s overblown ideas of changing the world by standing trial. He is much more interested in a lobster lunch served by Sandy Moffatt (Will Dixon) and his attentive staff.

A Neopolitan sun warms the second act and making love, even that which dare not speak its name, is anything but the shameful act it seems in Victorian London. Bosie is quick to take advantage of this casual atmosphere by bedding Galileo (Kurt Kanazawa), a local fisherman. However, a damaged Oscar is even less inclined to movement than before prison. He sits immobile in his chair deflecting life with witticisms.

Hare’s decision to eschew the standard biography proves a brilliant device as it throws us into Wilde’s life in extremis and more rapidly reveals the complexity of Oscar Wilde – poet, playwright, bon vivant, genius, and martyr. It also shines an unforgiving spotlight on the man’s disastrous life choices. Or, as the play strongly suggests, his inability to choose.

Director Michael Michetti knows this world and guides his talented cast in the kind of elegantly detailed work which would, no doubt, please Wilde himself. Michetti is also well aware of the script’s major challenge, a main character who seems indifferent to any kind of progression.

That is where the skill and dexterity of a performer like Rob Nagle makes all the difference in the world. He inhabits Oscar with the kind of conviction that makes every moment telling. Whether showing the hero or the coward, the lover or the artist, Nagle is effortlessly convincing. He spends 90% of the second act in a chair, but his bon mot crackle, his arguments nearly pierce Bosie’s self-absorption, and his performance is so dynamic that the character’s physical and mental immobility is immaterial.

Bates is an unapologetically vain and entitled Bosie. He is handsome enough to embody Bosie’s “red rose-leaf lips,” and he uses his physical charms to soften his endless manipulations. Dixon cuts a smooth and dapper figure as the Scottish Moffatt, a man who knows how to provide service and keep secrets for a price. Matthew Campbell Dowling’s savvy Arthur has also learned the value of secrets and the tidy profit he can make with his body. Mara Klein’s somewhat clumsy Phoebe is still learning the ropes, while Kanazawa’s Galileo appears refreshingly open and unabashed about his loving. In the pivotal role of Robbie Ross, De La Cruz is disappointingly tentative and still seems to still be finding his performance.

Se Hyun Oh’s scenic design and Dianne K. Graebner’s costumes place us in the period, but it is David Hernandez’s lighting that captures the dramatic soul of the piece.

Spotlight

50TH ANNUAL LOS ANGELES DRAMA CRITICS CIRCLE NOMINATIONS

50TH ANNUAL CELEBRATION

OF LOCAL THEATRE

BY LOS ANGELES DRAMA CRITICS CIRCLE

KICKS OFF WITH 2018 NOMINATIONS

February 15, 2019…Los Angeles…The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (LADCC), which presented its first awards for excellence in Los Angeles, Orange County, and Ventura County a half-century ago, has begun the gala celebration of its 50th anniversary by announcing its nominations for the year 2018 (Dec. 1, 2017 – Nov. 30, 2018).

The LADCC is further thrilled to announce that this historic occasion will take place on Monday, April 8, 2019 at one of the region's most historic and beautiful theatres, Pasadena Playhouse, at 39 S. El Molino Avenue in Pasadena.

Although Pasadena Playhouse is hosting the LADCC Awards for the very first time, onstage host Wenzel Jonesof IMRU, the LGBTQI Radio News Magazine on KPFK 90.7, has served in that capacity numerous times, most recently in 2018. Noted local composer-conductor Christopher Raymond will serve in the capacity of musical director for the second consecutive year. The entire production will be in the hands of stage manager Heatherlynn Gonzalez, veteran of more than a decade's worth of LADCC service.

Standard general admission tickets are $40 and can be purchased at https://2019criticsawards.brownpapertickets.com/ (a small service fee applies) or at the door if available. All purchased tickets will be held at Will Call. The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a pre-show reception in the courtyard. The show will commence at 7:30 p.m. Nominees will receive instructions via email regarding how to claim complimentary tickets. Inquiries to: criticsawards2019@gmail.com.

One or more plaques will be presented in each of 18 categories. Seven special awards will also be presented.

The LADCC special award recipients are as follows:

The Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in theatre will be awarded to Sacred Fools Theater Company.

The Polly Warfield Award for an excellent season in a small to mid-size theatre will be awarded to Echo Theater Company.

The Ted Schmitt Award for the world premiere of an outstanding new play goes to Lauren Yee for Cambodian Rock Band, originally produced by South Coast Repertory.

The Kinetic Lighting Award for distinguished achievement in theatrical design goes to sound designer Robert Oriol.

Every effort has been made to ascertain proper credits for our nominees. We regret any errors or omissions. Any that come to our attention will be corrected on our LADCC website, in the event program, and (when applicable) on a recipient’s award plaque.

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle was founded in 1969. It is dedicated to excellence in theatrical criticism, and to the encouragement and improvement of theatre in Greater Los Angeles.

The 33rd Annual Robby Awards for Excellence in Los Angeles Area Theatre were presented by long time theatre critic Rob Stevens at a laugh and song-filled evening at Sterling’s Upstairs at the Federal in North Hollywood on Monday, February 4. Linda Hart and Bruce Kimmel co-hosted the show which featured performances by nominated actors Eileen Barnett, Erica Hanrahan-Ball, Ashley Fox Linton, Cassandra Marie Murphy, Jeffrey Scott Parsons, Jenna Lea Rosen, Shaunte Tabb Massard and Robert Yacko from their shows. Former Robby Award winner Jane A. Johnston also delivered a dramatic rendition of “The Ladies Who Lunch”. Other previous Robby Award winners Belinda Balaski, Carole Cook, Richard Doyle, John Iacovelli, Michael Kearns and Tom Troupe also presented awards. Cook had the audience roaring with laughter at her take down of Stevens and her reactions to her husband Troupe’s comments.

Hollywood’s Celebration Theatre was the big winner of the night, taking home nine awards—five for PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT and four for CABARET. CABARET tied for Best Musical of the year with Me + You Productions’s SPRING AWAKENING. Hollywood’s The Fountain Theatre’s production of THE CHOSEN won Best Drama as well as two other awards while Pasadena’s A Noise Within’s production of NOISES OFF was named Best Comedy. Twenty-two productions at sixteen different Los Angeles venues won awards.

May 3, 2016…Laguna Beach, Calif…Laguna Playhouse Board of Directors announced today that, later this month, Ellen Richard will be joining Laguna Playhouse as its Interim Executive Director. The Playhouse announced late last year that it was undertaking a national search guided by Arts Consulting Group (ACG) for an Executive Director to succeed Karen Wood who had held this position for the past eight years.

Commenting on the appointment Joe Hanauer and Paul Singarella, Co-Chairmens of the Board of Directors, said “In the midst of our search we encountered this wonderful opportunity to engage Ellen while we continue to seek appropriate long-term leadership. To have found someone with the extraordinary qualifications that Ellen has is thrilling. She is the recipient of six Tony Awards as producer at New York’s Roundabout Theatre Company where she was Managing Director. Ellen also has strong successes in supervising the construction of theatres in New York and also in San Francisco at the American Conservatory Theater, a rare and valuable skill set considering the contemplated major remodel and expansion of the Laguna Playhouse.” Laguna Playhouse Artistic Director Ann E. Wareham adds, “We are pleased and proud to have Ellen Richard, truly a rock-star in our field, join us as our interim Executive Director who will help guide the Playhouse during this transition.” Comments Ellen Richard, “I have quickly grown fond of Laguna Beach and the Playhouse. I embrace this extraordinary opportunity to join one of the country’s top regional theatres at this time in its remarkable 95-year history. I look forward to helping the Playhouse and working with their incredible Board of Trustees and Ann E. Wareham.”

ABOUT ELLEN RICHARD

Ellen Richard served as Executive Director of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco from 2010 through 2015. During her tenure, Ms. Richard negotiated a deal to buy the Strand Theater in tech corridor of Mid-Market San Francisco, helped raise the $34,000 million to renovate and operate it and steered the design and construction for the project which opened in May of 2015. The complex featured two performance spaces and has won multiple awards. She opened the 50 seat Costume Shop Theater, a 49-seat “black box” venue used for the company’s Master of Fine Arts students and for shows by other local companies. Ms. Richard was also credited with expanding the company’s educational efforts, coming up with programs like the San Francisco Semester, which brings undergraduate acting students to ACT from around the world, and Stage Coach, a community theater mobile unit that reaches into diverse neighborhoods

She was also Executive Director of The Second Stage Theatre in New York City. During her tenure at Second Stage, which began in 2006 (through 2009), she was responsible for the purchase contract of the Helen Hayes Theatre, growth in subscription income of 48 percent, and growth in individual giving of 75 percent, as well as conceptualization of a highly successful gala format and “Second Generation,” a giving program through which donors enable deserving New York City youth to experience live theater. Under Ms. Richard’s leadership, Second Stage provided the initial home for the Broadway productions Everyday Rapture, Next to Normal, and The Little Dog Laughed.

From 1983 to 2005, Ms. Richard enjoyed a rich and varied career with Roundabout Theatre Company. The Roundabout that Ms. Richard joined was a small nonprofit theater company in bankruptcy. By the time she departed as Managing Director, Roundabout had become one of the country’s largest and most successful theater companies of its kind, with net assets in excess of $67 million dollars. Ms. Richard is the recipient of six Tony Awards as producer, for Roundabout productions of Cabaret (1998), A View from the Bridge (1998), Side Man (1999), Nine (2003), Assassins (2004), and Glengarry Glen Ross (2005). As producer of more than 125 shows at Roundabout, she had direct supervision of all management and marketing functions. She created Roundabout’s “Theatre-PLUS” programs, which include singles, teachers, family, gay and lesbian, wine tasting, and the 7 p.m. “Early Curtain” series, all of which grew to represent more than 10 percent of Roundabout’s 40,000 subscribers.

As director of design and construction at Roundabout, Ms. Richard was responsible for more than $50 million of theater construction for 11 projects. She conceptualized the three permanent Roundabout stages — The Broadway venues of Studio 54 and the American Airlines Theatre, and the Off-Broadway venue The Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre She directed the location search for Cabaret and oversaw the creation of the production’s environmental Kit Kat Klub. Prior to her tenure at Roundabout, Ms. Richard served as business manager of Westport Country Playhouse, theater manager for Stamford Center for the Arts, and business manager for Atlas Scenic Studio. She began her career working as a stagehand, sound designer, and scenic artist assistant.